She Lived Long, and Prospered

This has to be my favorite picture of the week. I’m not quite sure what the occasion was, but Star Trek’s original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, stopped by the White House to hang out with Obama and take probably what has to be one of the coolest pictures of his presidency.

Back in the ’60s, the Uhura-Kirk kiss was the first interracial one on TV, and President Obama admitted to having a crush on Nichols when he was a kid.

Wicked cool photo, but isn’t that shirt a tad low cut for someone that age? And when you’re uh…meeting the president? Whatever, Uhura does what she wants.

About The Author

Paul

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

Jim Lahey

I bet Nichols heard about Obama’s childhood crush and wore that outfit just for him.

Emma

So…. you really think that there’s a certain age when you must dress like a boring old grandma? Come on, she is beautiful, she’s got the curves, why should she suddenly stop being a woman?

Diablo

Ever read about the shit she went through on the show? NBC refused, outright refused to draw up a contract for her. They were dead set against having a black female on the cast. So Gene just got around it by hiring her for the day…each and every single day. Because of this, she ended up making more money than the any other member of the cast. Though even then, the studio made her life a living hell. It got to the point that she was ready to quit when Gene had MLK contact her and talk her into staying. Think about it…the idea of not only a black woman not being a cruel stereotype, but also an officer on a ship. That was freaking ground breaking. So she stayed.

Even then, she never got a single piece of fan mail. The entire time on the show, not a single letter from fans. Until the cast party when the show was ending. NBC sent a page to tell her that before she left, there were three rooms filled with fan mail she had to get rid of or it was going into the trash. Out of spite, the studio just held onto thousands and thousands of fan letters, hoping she would quit the show. How fucking crazy is that?

Its really hard to believe how just not that long ago, idiots could get away treating another human being like that for totally bullshit reasons.

And she is still smoking hot.

Jim Lahey

@Diablo

I never knew that, that makes me like her even more.

Charlie Ward

Do Lucy and Ricky’s numerous kisses not count as interracial? Not being snarky, I’m genuinely asking because I don’t know the race rules.

JessKitty

Charlie, no, it didn’t count because back then there was no “Latino” race/culture. They were considered to be “white.”